Hey Pete, it’s crazy!

Falcons fast start a pleasant surprise for coach

By: Redd E. Patrick
   Every coach in every sport will look at their schedule before the season and give a realistic estimation of many games they think they can win.
   When veteran Monroe boys basketball coach Pete LoPresti looked at his first six games in 2004-05, he never in his wildest dreams counted on five wins.
   But that’s exactly where the Falcons stood — 5-1 — heading into Thursday’s showdown with Sayreville.
   An opening-night loss to Colonia was expected. Unknown Princeton was up next, followed by Carteret, a perennial GMC toughie, before the holiday tournament campaign. Both were surprisingly easy victories — 71-50 over Princeton, 64-55 over Carteret. After just three games, the Falcons equaled their victory output from a year ago when the club staggered to a 2-19 finish.
   LoPresti was counting on victory over Timothy Christian in the opening round of the Piscataway Tech Holiday Tournament — and got it, 67-49 — but a date with an athletic Academy Charter team from Belmar from followed in the championship. The result was a 65-51 win.
   The 2005 portion of the schedule found North Brunswick on the list first, a winning program featuring one of Middlesex County’s best in Derek Scott, a 6-3 senior who came in averaging 22.7 per game. Sidekick Vinay Wunnava, a 6-1 senior, was netting 15.0 per game. As a team, the Raiders were averaging 61.7.
   Despite all those credentials, Monroe posted a 54-40 home victory. Scott was held to a season-low seven points and Wunnava a season-low five.
   Trailing 38-37 after three quarters, the Falcons outscored their guests, 18-3 to win handily. A.J. Rudowitz scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the decisive quarter and added 11 rebounds and four blocks to his stat line to lead the way. Dominik Rawle also had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Tommy Sorensen finished with nine and choreographed the offense to near perfection.
   "If you told me before the season we’d be 5-1, I’d have called you crazy," LoPresti said.
   The reasons are easy to pinpoint. Balanced scoring to take the pressure off the 6-5 Rudowitz and solid, team defense.
   Rudowitz, a junior who led Middlesex County in scoring a year ago at 21.7, is down to 18.3 per game, but it’s actually helping the team.
   "Guys like Scott Basarab (12.5 ppg.) and Dominik Rawle (9.1) are taking the pressure off A.J., we don’t have to look to him on every possession," LoPresti offered. "And the guard play of Tommy Sorensen has helped. He creates a tempo for us and he sets guys up in the right position to shoot. We’ve had three games this season where nine different players scored. We didn’t have that last year."
   Defense has also been a big key. After giving up 69 points to a quality Colonia team, the Falcons are yielding a mere 49 points per game over their last five.
   "Defense was our big concern coming into the season," LoPresti said. "But we’re playing excellent team defense with a lot of intensity. Kids like Rawle and K.J. Rolland really bring a lot of intensity and then it becomes contagious.
   "Because of our defense, we are getting steals and deflections that have led to cheap baskets on the other end. Last year, I could count on one hand the number of easy baskets we got for the whole season. A year ago, we could compete defensively for three quarters, but then we would wear down. Against North Brunswick, we were down in the fourth quarter and held them to three points. That was a great sign for us."
   While the starting lineup of Rudowitz, Basarab, Rawle, Tommy Sorensen and Rolland has been solid, LoPresti is getting quality play from his bench of Colin and Kyle Horsch, Kyle Sorensen, Mark Gulick and Shamil Graham.
   "We went 10 deep against North Brunswick," said LoPresti. "That helps our defense. We didn’t do anything special defensively against Scott or Wunnava. We just mixed things up with a half to three-quarters court trap, a matchup zone, some 3-2 and a little man. We seemed to be fresh."
   In the Piscataway Tech Holiday final, three players cracked double figures in Basarab (16), Rudowitz (12) and Tom Sorensen (10). A year ago, that would have been unheard of.
   But that was last year, this is now.